Two and a half years after turning the post-war suburb of Neuperlach into a living laboratory for the New European Bauhaus (NEB), the lighthouse project Creating NEBourhoods Together will present its findings at a two-day conference and twin exhibitions in Munich on Thursday–Friday, 27–28 March 2025. The event—aptly titled “NEBourhoods for Tomorrow”—invites city-makers from across Europe to debate how local experiments in beauty, sustainability and inclusion can accelerate the EU’s Green Deal goals. nebourhoods.de

Day 1: Turning Neighbourhoods into “NEBourhoods”

The opening programme, “Transforming Neighbourhoods into NEBourhoods,” runs from 10:30 to 17:00 CET on Thursday 27 March at the Hochschule München University of Applied Sciences (Lothstraße 64). Panels will place Neuperlach’s prototypes—nature-positive retrofits, pop-up mobility hubs, community energy coaches—side by side with results from the EU’s five other NEB lighthouse demonstrators, probing how co-creative methods have shifted mind-sets as well as bricks and mortar. BayFORClimate Alliance

Evening double opening in the city centre

From 18:00, attention moves to Munich’s historic core for the joint inauguration of two companion exhibitions. First stop is the Architekturgalerie München (Blumenstraße 22), followed at 19:00 by an interactive showcase at the city’s urban-planning forum PlanTreff (Blumenstraße 31). The twin displays translate handbook diagrams and life-cycle data into tactile models, VR walk-throughs and audio stories recorded by Neuperlach residents—demonstrating that NEB values can resonate beyond expert circles. nebourhoods.de

Day 2: What makes NEB change stick?

Friday’s session, “NEB Success Conditions for Transformation,” convenes from 09:00 to 13:00 at Siemens AG’s Neuperlach campus (Otto-Hahn-Ring 6). Keynotes unpack the governance, finance and capacity-building ingredients that turned pilot actions into durable policy shifts—ranging from circular-economy procurement clauses to youth-led stewardship contracts for public space. The morning culminates in the public launch of the 184-page “NEBourhoods for Tomorrow – Replication Handbook,” a free guide packed with playbooks, budgets and NEB Compass evaluation templates ready to be cloned by other municipalities. nebourhoods.desce.de

Why this matters for Europe’s Green Deal

Buildings still account for roughly 40 % of EU greenhouse-gas emissions, and suburban districts like Neuperlach hold vast stocks of under-performing concrete. By showing how animal-friendly façades, shared e-cargo bikes or student-run up-cycling studios can be co-designed with tenants and city staff, the lighthouse has turned abstract NEB principles into measurable climate, social and aesthetic gains. Its final conference therefore doubles as a knowledge-transfer engine: methods trialled on 2 km² of Munich turf could inform zoning tweaks in Milan, citizen-science air-quality drives in Brno or circular renovation funds in Porto. nebourhoods.de

Practicalities

The conference language is English; venues are wheelchair-accessible and include an accessible restroom. Participation is free but registration is required by 11 March 2025 via the online form (europa.eu/!ezXFcsh9). A detailed agenda and speaker list are available at europa.eu/!e4F5F4qs. LinkedInnebourhoods.de

Join the conversation

Whether you are a planner drafting the next climate-neutral district, a housing-co-op chair looking to retrofit 1970s blocks, or a civic hacker eager to plug sensor data into public art, Munich’s NEBourhoods for Tomorrow finale offers concrete tools, candid lessons and a cross-European network ready for collaboration. Transformation, the organisers stress, begins on the doorstep—and the blueprint is now on the table.